Cribbing is a compulsive behavior in some horses. It involves the horse biting on an object, such as a fence or a feed trough, and then arching its neck downwardly, while pulling and sucking in air. The result can be not only destruction or damage to the object on which the horse is biting and pulling, but also harm to the health of the horse, which may ingest wood chips or other debris in the process. In some cases, the result is a need for colic surgery on the horse.
Many attempts have been made to discourage this behavior, but none have been very successful. Some collars have been used that have projections that poke the horse when the horse arches its neck downwardly for cribbing, but they can harm the horse, and they do not work if the horse brushes them against something and causes them to rotate around the horse's neck to a different orientation. Other collars are not stiff enough, so the horse is able to bend them in the width direction to effectively reduce their width so they no longer perform their function. The collars also can be removed or loosened by the horse by rubbing them against a fence or other fixed object or by another horse gripping the collar with its teeth and pulling on the collar, which defeats the purpose of the collar.